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Food Wealth from Grain 



How They Supply Basic Nutriment 
for All the World 



By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS 

Food Advisor of The People's Home Journal; Author of 

"Foods that Will Win the War" and "Making 

the Most of Our Meat Supply"; Food 

Economist of national 

reputation. 




PRIVATELY PRINTED BY 

THE PEOPLE'S HOME JOURNAL 

NEW YORK 






COPYRIGHT, 1921 

F. M. LUPTON, PUBLISHER 

NEW YORK 



0)CI.A654921 






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iV this land of ours are at least 100,000,000 men, 
women and children who sit down three times a day 
to eat. The balance of what the new census may- 
show are babies. 

This huge army which pauses in its work or pleas- 
ure with machine-like regularity to refill the stom- 
ach-furnace with food-fuel for heat and energy, and 
supply the blood with building material for bone 
and tissue, eats all manner of food in all kinds of 
places. Its dinner tables range from the tin pail of 
the day laborer to the carved mahogany of the mil- 
lionaire. Yet a common bond unites these extremes 
and all that lies between in the daily brotherhood of 
bread. 

Whatever else may be missing from the work- 
man's noonday meal, bread is bound to be there. 
Whatever else is present on the table in the rich 
man's palace, bread is bound to be there also. It was 
there and everywhere at breakfast; it will be there 
and everywhere for the evening meal. 

If we allow an average of two slices of bread per 
meal to these 100,000,000 eaters — this surely is a 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 

reasonable average — we face the astonishing total 
of 219,000,000,000 slices of bread consumed every 
year in this land alone. As a matter of fact, the 
actual figures mount higher, because the mass of the 
people average more than two slices a meal. 

But 219,000,000,000 is sufficient to prove bread's 
right to be called the staff of life. 

Say these slices average five inches square. Place 
them end to end and you would have a bridge of 
bread spanning more than 17,000,000 miles of space 
— enough to wind nearly 700 times around the earth 
at the equator. 

Now there are 1,500,000,000 mouths to feed in 
this world, and except for the babies, each of these 
is an open door for some kind of bread three times 
a day! 

Yet bread is only one form of the food- wealth we 
get from grains ! 

Do you think the man who first called it the staff 
of life made a mistake ? Can you imagine what would 
happen to humanity if the grain fields of the earth 
were to strike for just one growing season? Well, 
if such a thing were to happen, another dead world 
would be swimming through space. But there is no 
likelihood of this kind of a strike, so we may content 
ourselves with the pleasant prospect of what these 
grain fields do for us in the way of food. 

In the first place, the flours and cereals made from 
grains supply the race with most of the carbohydrate 
food elements needed as fuel to run the body ma- 
chinery and heat the human house. Since they are 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 

also rich in protein, the food element which supplies 
material for building and repair of body tissues, they 
furnish "lumber" as well as "coal." In addition to 
this, most of them contain a certain amount of fat ; 
all are more or less rich in necessary mineral salts, 
and without exception they provide a generous share 
of fibre or cellulose which is a necessary aid to nor- 
mal functioning of the intestines. 

We don't half appreciate the place and power of 
grains in our daily food, because we seldom stop to 
think about them. We accept bread as a matter of 
course, just as we accept water. Cereal dishes of all 
sorts are so commonplace as to excite no attention 
or comment. Yet take these two forms of grain- 
food from our tables for ten days, and there would 
arise the greatest hue and cry the world ever has 
known. 

It is wheat which supplies most of our flour for 
bread — the first staff of life — and for macaroni, 
often called the second staff of life because of its 
great nutritive value and its widespread use. 

Macaroni is both bread and meat, for in addition 
to its large content of bread-nutrients, it is far richer 
in body-building gluten than the indispensable loaf. 
It is an effective flesh-forming food and many per- 
sons find it easier to digest than beef, mutton or 
pork. In view of the fact that nearly everyone eats 
too much meat and the further fact that the world's 
meat supply will continue short for many years, 
macaroni must be viewed as a meat substitute of the 
highest value. 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 

A few years ago it was used in American homes 
only as a side dish — a sort of vegetable adjunct. To- 
day we consume nearly half a billion pounds annu- 
ally, and its popularity is on the increase. 

Macaroni is made from a special grade of hard 
wheat containing an unusually high percentage of 
gluten. This gives it its peculiar meat-and-bread 
food value and makes it a dependable first-aid to 
health and strength. 

From corn we get corn-meal, corn- starch, hominy, 
corn oils for frying and shortening, and corn syrup 
for sweetening. Barley is the source of all the malts 
and, aside from its cereal gifts, makes possible the 
great food benefit of malted milk. Oats, rye and rice 
complete the big six in the cereal world, though 
there are other grains such as barley which already 
have attained prominence in other countries, and 
which yet may rise to positions of equal importance 
in our land. 

Before going further, it is well to pause a moment 
to ponder the remarkable food value of malted milk. 
This palatable product, which places the full food- 
value of milk within monetary reach of anyone any- 
where at any time, is made possible by the barley 
malt. 

Recent tests made at my suggestion in one of the 
leading medical colleges of the United States have 
shown malted milk to be one of the most easily di- 
gested and promptly assimilated of foods. These 
interesting experiments, which included feeding 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 



tests on human subjects, scientifically proved its high 
worth as a builder of weight and strength. 

Wheat, of course, is the most valuable and the 
most popular of all grain foods and, next to corn, 
the most largely produced. In 1918, the latest year 
for which complete crop records are available, the 
world's total wheat production amounted to 2,350,- 
000,000 bushels, and this vast store of food was 
grown in countries as far separated as Australia, 
Chile, India, Canada, Egypt, Cuba, Persia, Scot- 
land, Norway, Greece, Argentina, Roumania, Spain, 
New Zealand, Mexico, and South Africa. 

Wheat is the one foodstuff which is cultivated in 
every civilized country. In the wild state it is found 
only in the temperate zone, but the Caucasian race 
has been so faithful to it as the chief sustaining food 
that wherever the white man has gone he has taken 
wheat with him and trained it to meet the conditions 
of his new surroundings. Literally, "from Green- 
land's icy mountains to India's coral strand" it 
waves its message of strength and sustenance to a 
world which for centuries has favored it as the first 
of foods and which now would not know how to get 
along without it. In fact western civilization is in 
a great measure built on wheat, for the dominant 
races are those who consume the most wheat. It is a 
better food than rice, and wheat eaters must always 
be superior in mental and physical energy to rice 
eaters. So long as we get wheat we are fit to hold 
our place in the van of civilization, but if ever wheat 
fails us we shall probably decline to a lower level of 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 

energy. It is strange to think that proud man should 
be so dependent on this product of the field. 

Wheat became the principal bread grain of these 
dominant races because it yields the best flour at the 
least expense. Next to wheat in this particular 
comes rye, the smallest in point of world-production 
among the much used grains, yet immensely popu- 
lar in some countries. Rye bread has better keeping 
qualities than wheat, but it never has attained such 
widespread popularity. The third grain bread, dif- 
ferent in texture and mode of making from the 
other two, is corn bread. And this brings us to a 
consideration of the world's chief grain crop which, 
though grown in only eight countries, reached in 
1918 a total of nearly 3,000,000,000 bushels. 

The cheapest nourishment it is possible to secure 
comes through corn meal. Indeed, it may be said 
without fear of contradiction that corn is man's 
kindest friend. From the tall stalk with its glimmer- 
ing green flags and feathery top-piece comes not 
only the wide variety of corn cereal foods which 
enter into our daily diet ; not only the indispensable 
corn-starch and the golden fat oil and sweet syrup, 
but also the food value and flavor of most of our 
meat. For it is the ideal fodder for most animals. 

What did Old World folk do before Columbus 
carried back to Spain those few grains of Indian 
maize which, had he but known, represented a gold 
more valuable than any ever dug from the ground? 
They did much the same then as they still are doing 
in Europe, for even today this wonderful grain food 

8 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 



is not appreciated overseas. But here in America it 
has come into its own as one of the indispensable 
factors in the feeding of the people. 

Here in America we have learned through experi- 
ence that it not only is good for our physical being, 
but also for our pockets. For it is a fact that even at 
present prices a dime's worth of corn-meal contains 
enough food-fuel units to provide the average mod- 
erate worker with a day's supply of energy. 

And from the American standpoint, corn is the 

most patriotic of foods. For this country is its home, 

and it has done more for us than any other one crop.' 

How generous Mother Nature has been to us in 

her gift of oats, which next to corn, constitutes the 

world's largest grain crop! What a marvelous food 

she offers in it— with energy provision four times 

that of potatoes, twice that of eggs, and one and a 

half that of wheat bread! 

Oatmeal not only leads all cereals in content of 
fat, but also contains valuable mineral salts, such as 
potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, phosphor- 
us, sulphur and iron— mineral elements needed by 
the blood to maintain body balance. You pay a hio-h 
price for the bottle whose label bears the names of 
those mineral salts and you make a wry face when 
swallowing the dose that comes in that bottle. How 
much pleasanter to take these necessary minerals in 
a dish of oatmeal— and how much more sensible? 
For it is a fact substantiated by science that the 
minerals in the bottle are for the most part not 
assimilated by the human system, while those in 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 

oatmeal and other cereal grains are eagerly sucked 
into the blood and swiftly carried to the tissues and 
organs which need them. If wheat be the best of 
cereals oats are a good second. Scotland has raised 
a fine brand of men upon them and England, horses 
of the first class. For man and beast oats are an 
essential food. 

Corn, wheat and oats form the triumphant trinity 
of grain foods. After them come rye, barley and 
rice, and the greatest of these is rice. 

A good many persons discovered its value as a 
starch food when potatoes not long ago soared to 
unheard-of prices. All cereals are rich in starch, but 
rice heads the list in this particular, so whenever 
potatoes are rare or costly use rice or hominy in 
their place. 

Thus far I have dealt only with the best known 
and most widely used forms of grain foods. Many a 
lover of buckwheat cakes might accuse me of having 
neglected one of the tastiest of grain dishes, and so 
far as this qualification is concerned, I plead guilty. 
They are delicious when eaten with butter and sugar 
or syrup; they provide a wealth of necessary food 
elements. 

Among the peoples of the Orient, rice, of course, 
constitutes the staple food. Of all the grains it is 
the most generally used, constituting the staff of 
life for one-third of mankind. It is much poorer in 
fat and protein than wheat or oats but much richer 
in starch. When polished it consists almost entirely 
of starch and loses with its protein the vitamine con- 

10 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 

tent which is necessary for health — so necessary that 
the abstraction of it leads to the disease called beri- 
beri among those peoples who depend mainly on rice 
as a staple food. 

In parts of Africa and Asia is grown a sorghum 
called Kaoliang, the grain of which can be milled 
and, when mixed with a certain percentage of 
gluten, made into bread. 

Millet is used as a food in Russia, China and India 
and its grain can be milled and cooked in much the 
same way as other cereals, and is rich in protein. In 
some parts of the world sorghum is used as a bread- 
stuff, but in this country it is grown solely for the 
molasses and syrup that can be obtained from it. 

Of late years increasingly large use of various 
grains has been made in the preparation of break- 
fast foods, many of which are ready prepared for 
immediate use without cooking, while others are 
semi-prepared. These contain about the same per- 
centage of nutriment as the cereals from which they 
are made. In flavor and palatability they vary much, 
but some of them have gained great popularity and 
are used daily in millions of homes. 

There are some other things to remember in con- 
nection with grain foods, the first of which is their 
freedom from waste. There is not a cereal grain 
which comes into your kitchen, whatever its form, 
that isn't 100% edible. I imagine few ever have 
thought of this, yet once recognized it immediately 
appeals as a fact of the highest importance. 

Another equally important phase of grain foods 

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FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 

is their digestibility. Bread and cereals constitute, 
next to milk, the most easily digested form of nutri- 
ment. The baby's first solid is a cereal. The old 
folks' last standby is a cereal. The strong man finds 
bread or cereal a sufficient support for his day's 
labor. The weakling, the sick person, the invalid 
can assimilate certain cereal dishes when nearly 
every other form of food has to be forsaken. 

As if to crown them, nature has endowed cereal 
grains with incomparable keeping qualities. So in 
these fruits of the field which excel in flavor, food 
value and health-giving properties, we have an in- 
heritance which makes for strength from generation 
to generation and supplies the surest foundation for 
our annual service of Thanksgiving. 

In order to appreciate the extent of our depend- 
ence on grains in our daily food, let us pause a min- 
ute to consider what would happen if the grain fields 
were to go on strike for just one season. 

First, no bread at any meal. The very thought is 
appalling. Yet we could live without bread if we 
had grain foods in some other form. But the strik- 
ing fields also would deprive us of our many forms 
of breakfast cereals ; they would take from us those 
grain beverages which are used by so many persons 
in place of coffee. We could not have crackers, 
muffins or crullers. Griddle cakes and waffles would 
be mere memories. 

The breadless noonday meal would be minus 
macaroni or spaghetti. The meat gravy would be as 
thin as water, for it is thickened with flour or corn- 

12 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 



starch. And to concoct a pudding, pie or piece of 
cake without the aid of grain material would pass 
the power of the cunningest cook. 

No bowl of mush at supper time. No dish of any 
sort into the composition of which flour or corn- 
starch formerly entered. No rice cakes or shredded 
wheat, no noodles, or vermicelli. 

Indeed, if you will carefully note your three meals 
tomorrow and consider what would happen to them 
if every grain food or every dish in which grains play 
any part were withdrawn, you will begin to sense 
the real meaning to mankind of the corn and wheat 
fields, the rye and barley stretches, the oat fields and 
rice swamps which carpet this fertile land with a 
magic covering of greater carrying power than ever 
existed in any fabled floor-piece. 

And if some visitor from a distant world were 
suddenly to stand before you and ask, "What are 
you?" truth would compel you to answer, "Mostly 
grain of the field." 

None of our human inheritances is worth more 
than that which prompts such a reply. For grains 
supply a larger portion of man's nourishment than 
any other foodstuff, and in such convenient, eco- 
nomical form as to constitute them prime arbiters of 
man's destiny. 



13 



RECIPES 

Fruit Corn Muffins 

Mix together one-fourth cupful of melted fat and one-fourth cup- 
ful of sugar. Stir in one beaten egg and three-quarters cupful of 
milk. Mix and sift one and one-half cupfuls of corn meal, one and 
one-half cupfuls of flour, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder and 
one teaspoonful of salt. Add to the liquid mixture and when thor- 
oughly mixed stir in one-half cupful of seedless raisins and one-half 
cupful of chopped dates. Pour into well greased muffin pans and 
bake in a moderate oven about twenty-five minutes. 



Oatmeal Bread 

Pour two cupfuls of boiling water over two cupfuls of rolled oats. 
Cover and let stand until lukewarm. Dissolve one yeast cake in one- 
half cupful of lukewarm water, add one-quarter cupful of brown 
sugar and two tablespoonfuls of shortening, melted. Stir this mixture 
into the oatmeal and add one cupful of flour or enough to make a 
sponge. But until well mixed, cover and set aside until light, about 
one hour. Add one teaspoonful of salt and three cupfuls of flour or 
enough to make a dough. Knead until smooth, place in a greased 
bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk — about 
one and one-half hours. Mold into loaves, fill well-greased pans half 
full, cover and let rise again until doubled in bulk. Bake forty-five 
minutes in a hot oven. One-half cupful of chopped nuts may be 
added, if desired. 



Casserole of Hominy and Beef 

Melt three tablespoonfuls of fat, add three tablespoonfuls of flour 
and when well mixed stir in two cupfuls of milk. Cook until thick 
and boiling, stirring constantly. Add four cupfuls of boiled hominy, 
four potatoes boiled and diced, one and one-half cupfuls of cooked, 
diced carrots, one teaspoonful of salt and one-quarter pound of dried 
beef, pulled apart and scalded. Mix carefully and pour into a cas- 
serole dish. Cover with buttered bread crumbs and brown in a 
hot oven. 

Macaroni with Anchovies and Capers 

Heat four tablespoonfuls of olive oil in a deep frying pan, stir in 
three cupfuls of cooked macaroni, well seasoned, six or eight anchovies 
washed and cut in pieces and one pimento cut fine. Stir until thor- 
oughly heated, add two or three capers and serve very hot; garnish 
with strips of pimento. 

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FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 



Hominy Gems 

Cook one-fourth cupful of hominy in one-half cupful of boiling 
water for five minutes, or until water is absorbed. Add one-half 
teaspoonful of salt, one cupful of scalded milk, one cupful of corn- 
meal, three tablespoonfuls each of butter and sugar. Cool slightly, 
add two egg yolks beaten until thick and fold in two whites beaten 
stiff. When well mixed sift in three teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 
mix quickly, pour into well greased gem pans and bake in a hot 
oven about twenty-five minutes. 



Rice Waffles 

Mix and sift one and one-half cupfuls of flour, two tablespoonfuls 
of sugar, three teaspoonfuls of baking powder and one-half tea- 
spoonful of salt. Work in two-thirds cupful of boiled rice, using 
a fork or the fingers. Then add one beaten egg yolk and one and 
one-quarter cupfuls of milk mixed together. Beat until smooth, add 
two tablespoonfuls of melted butter and the stiffly beaten white of 
one egg. Bake in hot, well greased waffle irons and serve at once 
with maple syrup. 



E scalloped Rice and Cheese 



Wash one cupful of rice thoroughly and cook in six cupfuls of 
boiling, salted water for twenty-five minutes or until tender. Drain 
and rinse with hot water. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add 
two tablespoonfuls of flour and stir in one and one-half cupfuls of 
milk. Cook until thickened and smooth, and then add one-half tea- 
spoonful of paprika, one-half teaspoonful of salt and one cupful of 
grated cheese. Mix with the rice and pour into a greased baking 
dish. Spread with one-half cupful of buttered bread crumbs and 
brown in a hot oven. 



Scrapple 

Scald two cupfuls of milk. Mix three-fourths cupful of cornmeal 
with enough cold milk or water to make a thick paste. Stir it into 
the scalded milk and cook for five minutes, stirring constantly. Then 
add one and one-half teaspoonfuls of salt, one-fourth teaspoonful of 
ground sage or thyme and cook in a double boiler for thirty minutes. 
Stir in one-half cupful of finely ground peanuts and pour into a 
small, greased bread pan. When cold, turn out, cut in slices one- 
quarter inch thick and brown in a small amount of hot fat. Serve 
plain or with ketchup or chili sauce. 

15 



FOOD WEALTH FROM GRAINS 



Macaroni with Vegetables 

Cook one-half pound of macaroni until tender in boiling. Drain 
and mix with one-half cupful each of cooked carrots and turnips and 
one cupful of cooked peas. Melt four tablespoonfuls of butter or 
margarine. Add one-half cupful of sliced onions, cover and cook 
about five minutes or until soft but not colored. Add four table- 
spoonfuls of flour and one and one-half cupfuls of milk. Cook until 
thickened, season with salt and pepper and pour over the macaroni 
mixture. Mix lightly, reheat if necessary and serve in a hot dish. 
Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley. 



Oatmeal Pudding 

Mix two cupfuls of scalded milk with one and one-half cupfuls 
of cold oatmeal. When the mixture is free from lumps add one- 
fourth cupful of molasses, two well beaten eggs, one-half teaspoonful 
of cinnamon, one-fourth cupful of sugar and two-thirds cupful of 
raisins, chopped prunes or dates. Mix all together, pour into a 
buttered baking dish and bake in a slow oven about forty minutes 
or until firm. Serve hot or cold, plain or with milk or cream. 



Rice Dumplings 

Wash one cupful of rice, and cook in six cupfuls of boiling salted 
water for twenty minutes, then drain. Have ready six squares of 
cheesecloth six by six inches. Spread a half-inch layer of rice in the 
center of each square. Place a peach, apple, a few strawberries, 
raspberries, etc., in the center of the rice. Gather up the sides of the 
cloth so that the rice covers the fruit entirely and tie tightly. Drop 
into a kettle of boiling water and boil for fifteen minutes. Remove 
from the cloths, arrange on a serving dish and serve with fruit, 
sugar and milk or cream. 



16 



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